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brought to you by
Detroit Locker
and Don "The Beachcomber" Johnson for the photos and daily reports!
Attention hot rodders around the planet. This is your 6th report regarding the Hot Rod (magazine) Power Tour.
Coming to you live from the Courtyard by Marriott in the 'It's Hurricane season-are you prepared? Tallahassee,
Florida.
Dateline 10:24 PM 06/09/05
An early breakfast (6:30 wake up) at the Courtyard by Marriott (Birmingham, AL) and the dynamic duo (Don
Johnson in the Detroit Truetrac equipped SSR & John Sonnefeld in the like outfitted Explorer) were again, 'in
the wind' headed for Florida and the time change! This was drop top weather, so the SSR top was safely stowed
in its down position.
Maybe 30 miles of interstate Highway travel and we drove off (according to the rules) to a cross country
secondary highway. A more beautiful drive through the hills of Alabama you could not ever have hoped for.
We've got a wonderful country here!
As mentioned previously, 'Mad Mac Bernd' climbed on an airplane to escape the 'frazzlement' of the travel and
social schedule associated with the ball busting Power Tour schedule. Evidently he had a prior engagement with
his 'clean hands' friends in Houston regarding a concourse de elegance appearance. We suspected he grew
weary of our 'go-go-go' and broke out of the mold-pure & simple.
Back to the hinderlands of Alabama......A gas stop was in order (these exotic project vehicles do not do well with
respect to gas mileage) and a couple of Red Bulls to counteract our lack of slumber for the last five days, and we
continued with the mission...at a rather high rate of speed.
Finally ended up on the interstate after reaching the Florida border. Fortunately light traffic set the stage for a
couple of rev limiting blasts form the Detroit Enduro and a very fast dice with a Dodge truck relic with exhaust
stacks that really hauled the mail. A tough challenge but he finally gave it up after a 10 mile effort.
Finally arrived in Tallahassee. First thing we noticed were flashing roadside reminders as described above "Its
hurricane season-Are you prepared?" As a native Californian this is stressful.
A quick lunch at Hooters (always a site to behold-forget the food) and off to the fairgrounds. For the first time on
the tour we arrived on time (before the throngs of locals showed up). The throngs never did show up (probably
the heat and humidity dulled the locals a bit). Very limited crowd, but this did not dull our enthusiasm-no sir ree!
We were set up and ready to accept Detroit Locker contest entries and explain the features and benefits of the
Detroit Locker and Detroit Truetrac. Later (after the afternoon rain shower) the normal crowd count became
reality and the usual elbow-to-elbow was alive and well.
As usual John had 'places to go' so yours truly manned the booth and took care of the above detailed duties....
and then the skies fell again.... just like yesterday. As quick as we could deploy the down button for the SSR top,
it stopped. Now we're talking humidity together with 90 degree temps. This is a primary reason why I choose live
in Southern California.
We were able to put some ideas together regarding our upcoming F-350 dually project with Darryl Bassani.
Look for a possible 'worlds fastest Diesel crew cab' Bonneville attack with this drag truck next year......
Hummmm.
We are now comfortably situated in our rooms here in the Courtyard by Marriot (after devouring a handsome
dinner and libations) preparing for a few hours of slumber before our 6:30 wake up and trip to Kissimmee (ie:
Orlando). We have been told we are faced with tropical depression storms on arrival. This should make for an
exciting wind-up for the tour. We have also been alerted to the fact that this next venue is a sea of mud.
More to come!....... The grand wrap up and detailed of just exactly what this tour is all about and a clear
understanding of what drives these fanatics to do this year after year....and it ain’t just for T-shirts!
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All images copyrighted. Images not for reproduction without permission.
Hotrodhappenings, P.O. Box 14536, Arlington, Texas 76094
